Space is a limited resource on board aircraft. The cost effectiveness of passenger aircraft, however, is directly related to the number of passengers that can be transported with an aircraft. One option for gaining additional space for seats in a passenger cabin of the aircraft is to relocate the storage space for food, beverages and further catering related goods from the passenger cabin to a storage means such as a unit load device in the cargo bay of the aircraft. It is preferred to use an exchangeable storage means such that the aircraft can be rapidly reequipped with new food and beverages by simply exchanging the storage means.
This does, however, require a flexible connecting means for connecting the passenger cabin i.e. a first compartment of the aircraft with the storage means located in the cargo bay i.e. a second compartment of the aircraft. The connecting means has to be extendable from the inside or a floor portion of the first compartment and needs to provide both a sealed connection between the first compartment and the storage means and a power and a data connection to the storage means. Now, as space is precious on board aircraft only a very small distance needs to be covered by the connecting means when it extends from the wall separating the first and the second compartment to a storage means e.g. about 10 cm. However, at the same time the storage means can only be accurately positioned up to approximately 10 mm due to tolerances of storage means mounting means and relative movements of portions of the aircraft due to forces occurring during operation.
Thus, a connector providing data and power transmission does not only have to be self-aligning with a mating counterpart on a short distance, it also has to provide a robust connection that withstands the loads occurring in operation of an aircraft. Such a connection can easily be established and maintained if only a few electrical connections are required. The connecting elements can simply be dimensioned such that even an approximate alignment already provides sufficient electrical conductance and, thus, allows for power transmission. Further, the dimension of the connecting elements can usually be chosen sufficiently robust to maintain a connection even under high loads.
However, if a plurality of data and/or electrical connections is required and the space for contact elements is not available in abundance, the contacts elements will eventually be of delicate dimensions. Consequently, they require an exact alignment of the connectors and can carry only small loads acting on the connection themselves. However, the robustness of the connection may commonly not by compromised and, thus, other means have to be provided that automatically align mating connectors and provide a robust connection in which the contact elements do not carry high loads.